Swati Maliwal assault case: As the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) prepares to march to the BJP headquarters in Delhi to protest the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar in an assault case, Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal criticised the party on Sunday, stating that 'those who hit the streets for justice for the Delhi gangrape victim are now doing so to protect an accused.' Maliwal also said that this incident would have happened to her if Manish Sisodia, former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, were not in jail.
Bibhav Kumar was arrested and sent to five-day police custody in connection with the Swati Maliwal assault case. The police said in its remand paper that the AAP MP's assault could have been "fatal".
'Out on streets to save accused'
Referring to the protests following the 2012 Delhi gangrape-murder, Maliwal posted on X, "There was a time when he hit the streets to get justice for Nirbhaya. Today, after 12 years, we are out on the streets to save the accused who made the CCTV footage disappear and formatted the phone"
"I wish they had tried so hard for Manish Sisodia. If he was here, maybe something so bad would not have happened to me," she said. Notably, Sisodia is in jail for over a year in connection with a money laundering case linked to Delhi's now-scrapped liquor policy.
Kejriwal to lead AAP’s protest march towards BJP HQ
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders will lead a march to the BJP headquarters on Sunday (May 19). He dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to get them arrested.
The BJP is saying they will send AAP MP Raghav Chadha, who had just returned from the UK, and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj to jail too, Kejriwal claimed at a press briefing hours after his aide Bibhav Kumar was arrested in connection with the alleged assault on his party's parliamentarian Swati Maliwal.
Kejriwal, who is also the AAP national convener, however, asserted that his party could not be crushed by sending its leaders to jail.
Swati Maliwal assault case
Maliwal has alleged that Kumar slapped her seven to eight times, 'kicked on the chest, stomach, and pelvis area,' and threatened to kill her. She stated that the incident occurred on May 13 when she went to meet Kejriwal at his official residence. Meanwhile, the AAP has denied the allegations, claiming that Maliwal is being “blackmailed” by the BJP to become part of their conspiracy.
Kumar was arrested by the Delhi Police on Saturday after being booked under Sections 354 (assault or use of criminal force on woman with intent to disrobe), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt)of the Indian Penal Code.
